Mom of 2 looking into becoming Lvn put down by recruiter at kaplan

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Hello everyone, I am 25 and a hard working mother of 2. My children of 2 and 4 have grown up so much already right before my eyes. I feel know is the best time to go back to school and become an LVN. I was so excited that the fire to learn and go to school was once more ignited. I had put school aside since my babies and work. So I anxiously decide to take the first step and call Kaplan college. I spoke to a gentleman and he asked about why I wanted to start school. As soon as I mentioned my children in the conversation his whole attitute changed. He automatically directed me to an "easier" program wich was the Patient Care Tecnician. As if I was less to pursue being An LVN because of my 2 amazing kids. He said the Patient Care Technician was also cheaper and requiredred Less study time.

That guy you talked to on the phone was a jerk and immature. I'm in an RN bachelors program with three kids under three. You can totally do it if you have support that you can trust to take care of the kids while your gone.

I am also the same age as you if that means anything. Also, I found my kids to be

more of a motivation than an obstacle for school. It's up to you if you want to do it. The kids shouldn't be used as an excuse.

The price that the Kaplan program costs is more than my BSN program at university. I'm skeptical as to why they permit themselves to have such a high price for a LVN program.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
The price that the Kaplan program costs is more than my BSN program at university. I'm skeptical as to why they permit themselves to have such a high price for a LVN program.
Their LVN program's tuition and fees are so expensive because people will pay a staggering amount of money for the convenience of no prerequisite coursework, streamlined admissions, and more lenient requirements than local community colleges.

To keep a long story short, as long as a line of people are willing to pay $34,000 to attend LVN programs, schools like this will remain profitable.

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Specializes in ICU.
Switch and bait as another poster said to steer you towards a less filled program. 37K IMO is ridiculous for a LPN program and this is coming from someone who had their RN school cost 185k when it was all said and done.

That being said if I had a dime for every single mom saying they want to be an RN I would be rich. Nursing seems to attract a lot of non-traditional students for it's surplus of jobs, many education pathways and visibility as a profession. Many many do fail or opt for the PCT route. I am not saying you'll fail but the reality is many people do not have the time or educational gifts to be able to get in and pass.

Either way, look into CC programs as they are reputable and a lot cheaper.

We don't know if she is a single mom or not. She never stated whether she was or not. There is a reason why there are so many non-traditional students going into nursing and part of it is the advertising of these schools making it seem so easy to get a nursing degree and getting a high-paying job.

But, I want to stress that is not true for anybody. I actually started my prereqs back in the late nineties. I was young around 22 and was in retail management and not liking it one bit. I worked many, many hours a week and was traveling often. I was living in a new state without friends. I was watching my friends back home getting married and buying their first houses. My job never left me any time to make hardly any friends, much less go on dates. My one day off a week was spent sleeping. I worked close to 80 hours a week and that is not an exageration. One week, I worked almost 120 for this company. I was salaried so I did not get any extra pay. It was expected that I would work those hours with no complaints. I looked for other jobs in retail but since I was so young, getting a management position was difficult even with my experience. I was being offered $8 an hour for head cashier positions which I could not live off of.

I wanted to be in the medical field, I knew that. I had always loved it. I originally signed up for an EKG tech, then I was told that the RN program would be a program added to my school. My advisor said with my grades and my personality, I would be perfect for it. I had decided to switch my major and continue with prereqs for nursing. During this time, I did meet a man and we moved in and got married quickly. He thought school was a waste of time for me and my work schedule and school schedule did not leave much time for him. I was a newlywed and thought my husband just wanted time with me. I dropped out.

I did not realize that was the beginning of his control over me. The emotional, mental, and financial abuse was horrible over the years. Eventually, when our son was born, he made me completely dependent on him and I was basically a prisoner in my own home. He had chased away the few friends I had, and my time with my family was limited. I had no access to money and I was spot checked during the day to ensure I was at home being his servant to cook and clean for him.

When our son started school full time in kindergarten, I explained I wanted to go back to school so I could finally become a nurse. I was told no. He did not want to pay for that and I did not need a job. I already had one that I was not doing correctly, how would I be able to become a nurse? After being told for so many years how "lucky" I was that he rescued me, and how I would never make it in this world without him despite the fact I was just fine before we got together, I started to believe that I was worthless.

I signed up for school and filed for divorce in the same week. I went back to the same school I started at so my credits were still good. The school itself had grown by leaps and bounds in fifteen years and now had a very respected nursing program. Where I live, there is a shortage of nurses. Not a shortage of people going to nursing school, a shortage of nurses, as my area is also filled with for profit schools where either people drop out, don't pass the program, don't pass NCLEX, and are not accredited, so people don't get hired.

My divorce and going back to school was a long time in the making. I had to figure out a way to save enough money to go to a lawyer. I had to figure out how to pay for school. When I was given some money to go to the grocery store, I would keep the extra. I took me a long time to save up the money to file, turns out my ex has to pay for my school. This being the first year I could file taxes on my own, I was finally able to receive pell grants based on my income to help out and it paid for everything. I'm going to use what my ex was supposed to pay and put it towards my BSN.

Life is better now. :yes:

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We don't know if she is a single mom or not. She never stated whether she was or not. There is a reason why there are so many non-traditional students going into nursing and part of it is the advertising of these schools making it seem so easy to get a nursing degree and getting a high-paying job.

But, I want to stress that is not true for anybody. I actually started my prereqs back in the late nineties. I was young around 22 and was in retail management and not liking it one bit. I worked many, many hours a week and was traveling often. I was living in a new state without friends. I was watching my friends back home getting married and buying their first houses. My job never left me any time to make hardly any friends, much less go on dates. My one day off a week was spent sleeping. I worked close to 80 hours a week and that is not an exageration. One week, I worked almost 120 for this company. I was salaried so I did not get any extra pay. It was expected that I would work those hours with no complaints. I looked for other jobs in retail but since I was so young, getting a management position was difficult even with my experience. I was being offered $8 an hour for head cashier positions which I could not live off of.

I wanted to be in the medical field, I knew that. I had always loved it. I originally signed up for an EKG tech, then I was told that the RN program would be a program added to my school. My advisor said with my grades and my personality, I would be perfect for it. I had decided to switch my major and continue with prereqs for nursing. During this time, I did meet a man and we moved in and got married quickly. He thought school was a waste of time for me and my work schedule and school schedule did not leave much time for him. I was a newlywed and thought my husband just wanted time with me. I dropped out.

I did not realize that was the beginning of his control over me. The emotional, mental, and financial abuse was horrible over the years. Eventually, when our son was born, he made me completely dependent on him and I was basically a prisoner in my own home. He had chased away the few friends I had, and my time with my family was limited. I had no access to money and I was spot checked during the day to ensure I was at home being his servant to cook and clean for him.

When our son started school full time in kindergarten, I explained I wanted to go back to school so I could finally become a nurse. I was told no. He did not want to pay for that and I did not need a job. I already had one that I was not doing correctly, how would I be able to become a nurse? After being told for so many years how "lucky" I was that he rescued me, and how I would never make it in this world without him despite the fact I was just fine before we got together, I started to believe that I was worthless.

I signed up for school and filed for divorce in the same week. I went back to the same school I started at so my credits were still good. The school itself had grown by leaps and bounds in fifteen years and now had a very respected nursing program. Where I live, there is a shortage of nurses. Not a shortage of people going to nursing school, a shortage of nurses, as my area is also filled with for profit schools where either people drop out, don't pass the program, don't pass NCLEX, and are not accredited, so people don't get hired.

My divorce and going back to school was a long time in the making. I had to figure out a way to save enough money to go to a lawyer. I had to figure out how to pay for school. When I was given some money to go to the grocery store, I would keep the extra. I took me a long time to save up the money to file, turns out my ex has to pay for my school. This being the first year I could file taxes on my own, I was finally able to receive pell grants based on my income to help out and it paid for everything. I'm going to use what my ex was supposed to pay and put it towards my BSN.

Life is better now. :yes:

Good Luck :)

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Let me first say that I'm not a nurse or a nursing student. I'm still in the application process of a MSN program.

Saying that, I absolutely LOATHE For Profit schools. Their goal is not to churn out a bunch of qualified students; it is to make a profit for their investors off the backs of students with high loan debts!

Let me just say, that I have a Master's Degree from Trinity College, Dublin. My tuition, course fees, living costs, and spending money, while living in Dublin Ireland when the Euro was stronger than the dollar, was still less than $34,000 (more like $22,000).

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

HeatherMaizey: your story has some similarities to mine. I was married and he didn't want me to go to school. I did anyway. We ended up splitting during prereqs.

I was jobless at the time, and needed an income. That's why I switched to an accelerated lvn program, so I could get in out and ahead, as the commercials said.

It was hard. I, along with my kids, was without a home for several months. I didn't have the money to file for divorce or start court proceedings to get my share of "our" assets gained during our nearly 10 yrs of marriage.

Eventually, I took him to court, and received a wonderful settlement, including alimony so I could get through school, child support and reimbursement of the loans I'd taken out to be able to pay for our household expenses.

Yeah for us!!

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.
Thats a good idea. That was my very first step towards anything LVN. I will definetly look into my options. He said it would cost around 34,8000.0

OMG.

THAT IS MORE than it cost me to go from an RN to a MSN at a private University in California of all places

RUN away! Don't took back at that place.

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I know! I just looked into my community college its 1,800 !!!!!!!!! Know im just wondering if hes right about not being able to handle the work load :/

So Kaplan wants you to pay $34,800 for an education you can get at a community college for $1,800?

I just want to point out that $33,000 will pay for A LOT of babysitting so you can get your work done.

Seriously, if you really want to be a nurse, you can do it IF you are willing and able to dedicate the time and effort necessary to it. You haven't posted what kind of support network you have, but if you don't have one, best get one quickly. If your children's father is in their lives, arrange for him to take them for at least some of the times you need to study. Ask if your mother/father/siblings/cousins,friend, etc. might be willing to do some babysitting. Don't be ashamed to lean on people; if they love you, they will want to see you do well.

If all else fails, don't hesitate to hire someone. Better to spend a little more upfront and get through school than to flunk out, owe debt, and have too low a GPA to be readmitted. Think of it as a necessary expense and budget for it. Or get creative, and see if maybe you can exchange babysitting with another parent. You watch someone else's kids for a few hours (even if it's just to let the other person go on a date night, do some shopping in peace, etc.), and then someone else watches yours while you study. You could probably get a neighborhood middle school student for cheap, not to babysit exactly, but to keep your kids entertained and out of your way while you study in another room.

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Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.

For pass rates for 2013/2014 for Kaplan in California 63%, 2011/2012 74 %.

Stay away from any for profits. (Carrington)

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I was rejected from 3 diffrence lvn program almost 9 years ago. I had similar responses as I was a young mother of 3 being told flat out that I wouldn't be able to put the time and effort into it that would be required to pass. I continued to look further and was learned that the time and money it takes to become an lvn is not much less than associates RN. I have since graduated with my RN 5 years ago and am so very glad I did! Don't give up kids or not if you have what it take you will find a way!

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Specializes in Dialysis.
Switch and bait as another poster said to steer you towards a less filled program. 37K IMO is ridiculous for a LPN program and this is coming from someone who had their RN school cost 185k when it was all said and done.

That being said if I had a dime for every single mom saying they want to be an RN I would be rich. Nursing seems to attract a lot of non-traditional students for it's surplus of jobs, many education pathways and visibility as a profession. Many many do fail or opt for the PCT route. I am not saying you'll fail but the reality is many people do not have the time or educational gifts to be able to get in and pass.

Either way, look into CC programs as they are reputable and a lot cheaper.

And look at supply of jobs in your location/desired location. There are only a surplus of jobs in a few locations. Most areas have an over abundance of nurses. And regardless of what a school tells you, most LPNs don't work in a hospital unless oodles of experience. LTC is the market for most LPNs and those wages, while decent, won't repay that student loan

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
And look at supply of jobs in your location/desired location...LTC is the market for most LPNs and those wages, while decent, won't repay that student loan

I agree with RNinIN that you should research your specific job market, new Grad hire potential, wages for new grads, etc prior to undertaking a really expensive loan for school.

That being said, in my area, it was profitable for me to take out loans for Lvn school.

Full time pay, I brought home over $700/week after taxes. Closer to $900, actually. My student loan payments were approx $350/mo. I made a decent living for the year I worked as an LVN prior to returning to rn school.

No I didn't live extravagantly. But I was able to afford shelter, food, child care costs and a few perks such as presents for my kid on his birthday and Christmas.etc. After being poor through school, those "little" things meant a lot to me.

I am aware that nurses elsewhere aren't paid as well as we are paid in CA. Therefore it may not be wise to take out high cost loans in other regions.

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